About DU'ers knocking Alabama in posts

[Pystoff]

We are the brunt of too many jokes and sniping from our own here and I think it is about time we 'educate' some ppl. I am asking all Bama DU'ers to post when the usual Alabama diss is made and organize us all to respond untill this sterotype is ended on DU.

The latest was a Cali DU'er on General Discussion: Politics post was Freepers are SCARY...seriously.

It got the usuall Alabama is backwards and such diss from some Cali resident and I got a bit steamed about it. Remeber me if it gets me in trouble but I am damn sick of this abuse....I DON'T WATCH BLUE COLLAR TV CHEW TOBACCO AND BEAT MY WIFE DAMMIT!!!

Sorry kinda lost it there hehe.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. You have my sympathy

I get the dumb hillbilly jokes about Arkansas.

I think a lot of folks forget the brave souls, both black and white, who worked for Civil Rights in Alabama in the '60s. There are plenty of good progressives and liberals in Alabama.

[BOSSHOG]

5. I'm a UA grad

and love Fayetteville and Eureka Springs. Northwest Arkansas must be in the top ten of beautiful hunks of real estate on the planet. Have you ever driven old Highway 71 from Fayetteville to Alma and seen all the "Hillbilly" Shops? Incredible.

[Jo March]

8. Go out around the northeast side of the state in the mountains

It's beautiful out there. It's cool in the summer too, which is saying something!

Monte Santo Mountain is one of the most beautiful spots on earth, IMO. Lake Guntersville is gorgeous!

I miss living in Alabama. I hope that the Dems will spend some money there and turn it blue. Bama deserves some good leaders. Freaking wedge issues, dammit.

[Pystoff]

18. I live right at the foothills of Monte Sano

and yes it is beautiful.

[quaoar]

32. Lake Guntersville isn't quite as gorgeous as it used to be

Since the state decided to approve logging in the park.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. even worse

I live in Newton County, and have often driven by Dogpatch. Natives in the town call it by its original name, Marble Falls. Dogpatch and all the hillbilly shops are dying out around here, thank goodness.

[peace frog]

2. At least you don't live in...

FLORI-DUH. <Sigh> We'll never live down the 2000 election.

[Career Prole]

3. I'm living in Texas.

And I live in a trailer. I feel your pain. :eyes:

[BOSSHOG]

4. I live in Mississippi

and I encourage the state (MS) being trashed politically because it deserves to be. I see the typical MS resident daily. I see the lifestyle these lying hypocrites lead. I'm a retired vet, happily married for more than 30 years. MS is filled with ignorant scum and I daresay a similar situation exists in Alabama. Religiously insane Conservatives in red states are what is wrong with this country. Don't make an effort to masquerade them.

[Pystoff]

19. I don't

But where I live (Huntsville) 80% of the population is from Yankeeland. And they are as fundy and nutty as can be. Like all the whackjobs left their states and moved here yeesh.

[Jo March]

6. Bama bred and born, right here

I graduated high school with honors. Graduated college with honors - 4.0, honors society, Summa Cum Laude. On track to get my second degree with a 4.0 as well. I'm married to the father of both of my children. I live in the suburbs and I don't drink, hoot or holler. ;)

It gets a bit annoying to see the anti-Alabama posts at times but I chalk that up to the ignorance of the poster. Alabama is a red state, yes, but she could turn blue in a minute if the Dems would concentrate on the average Alabamian.

When I was researching Dem groups for VOTE, I found that there were many, many Dem groups in Alabama. Enough so that I found myself wondering why Bama went red.

Yes, Bama has had her share of ignorant leaders. I read about some of them and cringe. She also has a nasty past and its hard to run from that. Many other states have the same horrible past sins and are plagued with stupid ass leaders today.

Most people from Alabama are good, hard-working people. The repubs cozy up to many of them and know how to sweet talk them into voting against their best interests. It happens in other states as well, folks, not just in Bama.

I've found that insulting people never convinces them that you are on the right side of an argument and they are on the wrong side.

[BOSSHOG]

10. Calling many Christian Conservatives in Mississippi

Divorcees, adulterers, spouse abusers, child abusers, drug abusers, sexual deviates and religiously insane is not an insult, its the truth.

I guess I'm trying to one up you. Alabama is ultra progressive compared to Mississippi. Hell we're number in lynchings, top that.

[Pystoff]

20. I'll tell you why we are red

Because we have had one presidential canidate visit in 2 cycles (other than * visits) by a Democrat. And but a single vice pres. canidate in 2 cycles (Edwards). Don't ask for our vote (the average voter) and you won't get it. The Dem. party has failed in not even trying here is why they vote red eventho we have a Dem state house and senate.

[WestHoustonDem]

7. People in Blue states have no idea how hard you have to

work to be a progressive in a blue state. Being in the majority is always the easy way out.

And for the record, I don't drive a pickup, listen to country music or belong to a fundamentalist church.

[dave502d]

11. Pystoff,Welcome to DU.

Your right you can't win people over by kicking them in the nuts.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dragonfli]

12. My Nephew went through 'bama Last Year

I guess he didn't meet you personally, so I am sorry.
(I wish he did)

He was treated badly because of bumper stickers.
Threatened with violence twice for being a "fagot" (oddly enough he is heterosexual, but the "learned pronouncement" of the moran that really was chewing tobacco seemed enough to deem him "guilty" of this supposed "crime".)

Perhaps the problem is with the "ambassadors" of your great state that seem to be the only people Josh (and many others) run into there.

You really should take it up with those fine folks if you feel they misrepresent you. Those folks are the ones responsible for the bad rap.

I promise that, even tho I would never go there myself, I will remember that decent people live there as well as the ones so often noticed (for there loud mouths). I will try to remind others that there are good people there that could use our support rather than our bashing if they are ever to become the majority in your state.
I sincerely mean that.:hippie:

[Pystoff]

23. Buffalo eh?

Spent the most unusual night at the bus station there once....

Had a 4 hour layover waiting for a bus and in that 4 hours....

Had one nut telling me his life story (he was from Albany)...

Saw a non-dolled up cross dresser make a scene and when the cops came (asshole cops btw staring at me because I was in the vicinity) hassled him and then laughed when his bag popped open revealing womens underware and other items... (he was from Albany as well...wtf is with ppl from Albany?)

A buncha other odd happenings too many to list so I won't bother ya hehe.

Anyways I saw many NASCAR fans up there and many signs of redneck so upstate NY is right in line with Alabama....considering we have tons of NY's here LOL.

Now if you come south you can have a Kerry sticker nobody will hassle you but if you have rude bumper stickers yes you'll get comments.

And if you travel in the backwoods yes you'll run into those dangerous types....just like backwoods of NY.

[Dragonfli]

34. We do have rednecks here but...

My nephew has never been threatened by local rednecks, and I do not think the Phish bumper sticker and the peace sign he has on his car are really all that rude.

I suppose it has something to do with the "unholy fagy" phish tunes he likes.

Or perhaps peace is a rude and nasty thing.
I apologize for my nephew as he obviously brought it on himself.

I will remind him that Buffalo is the real problem and he should stop complaining.

[Pystoff]

35. It was probably the NY tag

I wouldn't take a NY tag into any part of the sticks in any state...outside of NY state LOL.

Actually ppl down here like Phish and I see plenty of Phish stickers all over the place...hey the Dead ain't around anymore so we gotta have something.

My my such hostility towards me for what I don't have a clue about. :shrug:

Maybe if you told me exactly where he was I could frame an idea why he was threatened for you eh?

Maybe they were Deadheads and hate Phish?

Maybe the constant joking about this state might have made some of them act that way as well?...which leads right back to my main argument.

But then again maybe it was some backwoods hicks who knows.

[quaoar]

36. Buffalo is a great place

I spent a year in North Tonawanda living just a block off the Erie Canal. We had this maginificent cherry tree in our yard. I was 11 years old and all the neighborhood girls were fighting over me because I had a Southern accent. LOL

Seriously, I loved Buffalo. Great city.

[atommom]

13. You have my sympathy. I'm in Kansas, which is the brunt of

a lot of jokes, especially in light of the gay marriage amendment, the evolution "trial," and the possible shutdown of our public schools (because the Rs don't want to raise taxes). Sigh. :eyes:

[Frances]

14. I spent the first 26 years of my life in Alabama

and I always told my daughters that the bravest people I knew lived in Alabama (because of the way they behaved during the Civil Rights era).

That said, I prefer to take a realistic view of whatever state I live in, be it Alabama, Massachusetts, Maryland, or California. Each state has its pluses and its minuses, but trying to deny the minuses isn't what I like to do.

[dbonds]

15. I was born and raised in Bama.

Left when I was 25. It is beautiful country. Most people there are good, but are being mislead by the Souther Baptist. There is still a sense of community there and the church is the hub of it in most of the state.

[beyurslf]

16. Was it AL or GA that failed to remove segregation laws in the last

election?

[Pystoff]

21. Probably Alabama

But I think it's because there is a movement to rewrite the state constitution and nobody wants the job LOL.

[chalky]

17. Take some advise from a Texan,

resident of the last state to emancipate blacks, the state that unleashed GWB, Tom Delay and David Koresh on the nation, home of the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr., and location of the lovely little town of Vidor.
Believe me when I say--when it comes to changing the stereotypes people have about your state, you'd better have some ammo to back your defense up. Simply saying "Don't say that" and "We're not all like that" didn't help me out one bit.

I have to remind people that Sweatt v. Painter origninated here and paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education. And thank God for Molly Ivins, Kinky Friedman & Lloyd Doggett. Living in Austin (home of SXSW) helps, too.

[Warren DeMontague]

22. All I said was, you couldn't pay me enough to move to Alabama.

You couldn't. That's factual.

I did not call you "backwards", or say you watch any kind of tv or chew tobbacco. All I said was, and I will say it again: You couldn't pay me enough to move to Alabama. You couldn't pay me enough to move to a lot of places in this country, it's not just Alabama. But the thread in question dealt with the standard religious right assertion that marriage is in "trouble" because women work and gays this and that. Which doesn't make too much sense in light of the fact that highly conservative parts of the country- Like ALABAMA, I'm sorry but it's true- have higher divorce rates.

Those, too, are FACTS.

If that is "sniping" or "bashing", I think you gents need to cultivate a thicker skin.

Anyway, I'm all ears about your fine state. Convince me otherwise. Please.

[Pystoff]

24. Good you stay where you are

We don't need holier than thou look down your nose types assuming based on a loud few this state is some kind of dueling banjos haven.

Btw when you make California into paradise in ohhh about never let us all know, then you can judge us all.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Let it go, mac.

Obviously you're having trouble reading what I've written, as opposed to your own projections.

[Pystoff]

27. Sure when you stop labeling ppl

Good old labeling just like a Pug would do about California....reverse version you are good at.

[Warren DeMontague]

28. Okay, let's take this slowly:

It's a safe bet that I wouldn't want to move to any of those red counties. Are some of them in California? Shit, yes. I'll be the first to admit we have our share of yahoos here. And are there good, progressive, liberal folks in even the reddest parts of America? Certainly. I respect those folks- in fact, I'll give them credit for having a stronger constitution than I.. I have enough trouble dealing with the right-wingers where I live; and I live in a VERY liberal part of the country. See, I'm a liberal. Apparently, I'm a WAY left liberal, by today's standards... although I actually consider myself to straddle the fence between moderate liberal thinking and social libertarianism.

My point is, I happen to live in a place where, for example, open homophobia is generally frowned upon. Where the vast majority of people are pro-choice. Where you can park your car that has an "Impeach Bush" sticker on it overnight and not expect to get your tires slashed.

Now, maybe there are parts of Alabama like that, too. Maybe, for example, you have a large number of openly gay couples in Huntsville, and it is common for them to mingle socially with heterosexuals without anyone getting freaked out or even thinking twice about it. But what I have heard here from other DU members living in "redder" parts of the country, is that it is very difficult to be a liberal in many of these places. It doesn't mean everyone there is a right-winger, or a christian conservative.. but it does tend to indicate a different ratio than what I, personally, prefer.

I think recent election results bear that out pretty clearly, as well.

Is all that an overly broad generalization? A swipe? A slam? I don't know. I offered you the opportunity to talk up your state, clear up what you perceive to be my misconceptions, and I was being serious.

[Pystoff]

29. Ok

Yes you are very left of center...I am not I am a classic liberal and depending on subject at times classic conservative. More left than right but no DLC'er.

We aren't much to talk about here we don't have Disneyland but we do have paved roads now!

Look we have ultra whackos yeah and so does Cali. we both know this. And yes we have more percentagewise I know. But where I live you can have impeach Bush stickers on your car and get away with it. W stickers have come off cars quickly here tho and therin lies an opprotunity that can't be missed. Talk jobs and education and ppl here listen because yes that evil man Wallace provided both in his latter years and the public was happy for it....and he never lost the D next to his name for better or worse he was a populist. And we fucking love populists down here...damn why wasn't Edwards the nominee?

We now sport more automotive plants than Michigan!
We have NASA and many missle and rocket research facilities!
Airbus is making it's US production debut here!

As nutty as the Southern Baptists are even they are backing up from some things. And no Roy Moore doesn't have as much support as you think. A statewide poll during the height of the monument flap and his removal from office showed a vast majority here thought he was doing it all for publicity and didn't support him for governor either.

I don't know what you want because we are never going to be San Fran or Berkley. But even leftys here don't care that we aren't and we don't mind or care.

:hi:

[Warren DeMontague]

30. This is all good news. And I was always a big fan of Edwards.

Still am.

I apologized elsewhere, but, again, Really my intent wasn't to slur your state-- and certainly not the folks who are working to turn it "blue". Sorry.

I also am very aware of, and have deep respect for the accomplishments and hard work of Huntsville in putting a man on the moon. Would that our tax dollars were going to something half as worthwhile, these days.

Peace.

[Pystoff]

31. It's all good

I just get tired of my state getting slammed for things from 40 years ago minus the recent whackiness LOL.

Yes we got some real fucknuts here but they are viewed in many circles as just that.

I think the Dems really need to pay attention to what Edwards is saying and atleast try to adopt some of it because america is turning back to populism off the back end of corporate statism as a backlash. It's the cycle of politics and thats the next turn I think and my favorite version of politcal thought. A little power to the working class and maybe even some unionizing for Wal Fart as a payback hehe.

Pea's back atcha.....that wasn't a typo LOL.

[jody]

33. Jokes demeaning any regional group are childish. Smart Democrats know

we can't regain control of government unless we get the votes of middle-class, independent voters.

Only Democrats who like losing elections disparage those who work for a living in particular those in the agriculture and basic manufacturing sectors.

[southlandshari]

37. Locking

This thread is no longer appropriate for a state-specific forum. The ongoing debate here is acceptable on DU, but would be better placed in one of the larger forums. State forums are gathering places for individuals who reside in a particular state and want to discuss state specific issues and local activities. Thanks for understanding, friends!